For Big East, realignment overshadows basketball

NEW YORK – This year’s Big East Media Day featured the likes of Jim Boeheim, Jamie Dixon and others.

Once the conference shakeup is over, what will it look like? Will we have Donnie Jones, James Dickey and Matt Doherty instead?

The overarching theme of the 2011 Big East media day was, unsurprisingly, realignment. Boeheim, Dixon, Mike Brey, Jim Calhoun, Rick Pitino, Jay Wright, Bob Huggins and the other nine coaches in the conference were each peppered with countless questions about who is going where, when it’s happening and what they think of it.

Many of the coaches clearly were getting tired of the same questions, over and over.

“I think it sucks like everyone else does,” Huggins told a group of reporters. “Yeah, [it’s a shame]. I think it was a shame the first time. It’s got to stop somewhere.”

The only thing set in stone right now is that Pittsburgh and Syracuse will be leaving the conference at some point, but the timeline is still indefinite. Technically, they’re not allowed to leave for more than two years, but that could be an awkward 27 months.

Dixon said the goal of Pittsburgh is not to leave the Big East without a plan for its future as a conference.

“When it’s in the best interest of the Big East for us to move, that’s when we’ll leave,” he said. “Whether it’s 27 months, 12 months or five months.”

The fate of several teams is also still undecided, with West Virginia and Louisville being linked to the Big 12, Connecticut to the ACC, Notre Dame to the ACC (and Big Ten, as always), with Rutgers also thrown around as a potential Big Ten or ACC target.

While the realignment mess could hinder some of the schools, Pitino and Brey are confident their institutions will handle it well.

“Unlike some others, we’re going to land on our feet,” Brey said. “I like the Big East, but we’ll land on our feet.”

“We’ll be fine in the Big East or in the other place,” Pitino said.

Connecticut was expected to follow suit to the ACC after Syracuse and Pittsburgh, and while that’s still a possibility, the Big 12 has also opened up as a potential landing spot for the Huskies.

Calhoun made it clear he is not sitting still and hoping everything just stays the same. He is being proactive as a result of all the changes around him.

“The Big East is special, I am proud to be a member of it. But sometimes what you want is not where you end up being. We are seeing the start of change,” he said. “My obligation to UConn is to be in an advisory capacity and reach out to my friends, particularly in the ACC and Big 12 and see what’s [happening].”

When the realignment carousel eventually stops spinning – whenever that may be – it’s not a stretch to say that the Big East will look very different. There could be a 20-team football conference and a 12-team basketball conference, with some variation of Navy, Air Force, UCF, Houston, SMU and a host of other schools in the mix.

Huggins said the new faces wouldn’t change the way he views his opponents in the conference.

“They were these guys at one time,” he said of younger coaches potentially replacing the Boeheims, Dixons and Calhouns of the league. “Somebody is going to finish last and someone is going to finish first. Whether it’s someone in the league now, or someone new.

“We had 11 teams reach the NCAA tournament last year, and nine of them will still be around. That would still have been a record.”

Not everyone feels that way – Pitino thinks certain intra-conference matchups won’t carry the same juice and luster as they previously did.

“Syracuse is playing Clemson on TV tonight!” he said. “It’s not Syracuse-Georgetown.”

Conference commissioner John Marinatto opened up the media day by saying he was glad that he finally could talk about basketball – but soon was bombarded with questions about realignment. This wasn’t what Marinatto signed up for, he said. It’s not what he wanted.

His comments beg the question – if Marinatto didn’t see it coming, how did we get here?

Dixon pointed to the lack of cohesion between the basketball and football sides of the conference. A 16-team basketball conference and an eight-team football conference clearly don’t align perfectly.

“If that is the best situation, more conferences would do it,” he said. “And we’re the only one that does it.”

When it boils down to it, though, money is the biggest factor in the entire proceedings. Pitino put some of the blame on the greed of the school presidents.

“The big is eating up the small,” he said. “The presidents have always said to put the athletes first. The last thing they’ve talked about is the athletes. So there’s a bit of hypocrisy in the presidents and their answer today.”

With so many questions still waiting to be answered, no one is sure about what is next – not the coaches, athletic directors, presidents, commissioners. The future of several conferences is completely up in the air.

For Big East, realignment overshadows basketball

“Syracuse is playing Clemson on TV tonight!” he said. “It’s not Syracuse-Georgetown.”

Well, in the old days of the BE, SU and GT would always play twice a year and likely a third time come tournament time. The BE now has it where you just play 1 time, and in some cases not at all, and with all the teams at the tournament, may not even meet there. So, what is the point? SU vs. Clemson? What about SU vs. DePaul? or Marquette? or Seatin Hall for that matter. Yes, you bring up Clemson, but what about teams like Maryland, NC, Duke, VT? SU always had a tremendous rivalry with Miami too. Now, listen to the BE Commissioner at media day, he has a plan to bring BE basketball to as many as 24 teams?? Huh? Who the heck would you play and what rivalries would be in a conference that big? You may not even meet another conf member for years.

Since: Nov 2, 2006

Posted on: October 19, 2011 9:35 pm

For Big East, realignment overshadows basketball

> This year’s Big East Media Day featured the likes of Jim Boeheim, Jamie Dixon and others.

Once the conference shakeup is over, what will it look like? Will we have Donnie Jones, James Dickey and Matt Doherty instead?>

This tells you all you need to know about the future of Big Least Basketball.

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